California Senate Bill 95 created the state’s 2021 COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave, requiring employers with more than 25 employees to provide up to 80 hours of pandemic-related paid time off separate from any regular sick leave balance.1SB 95 added Sections 248.2 and 248.3 to the California Labor Code. The law took effect March 29, 2021, applied retroactively to January 1, 2021, and expired on September 30, 2021. It is no longer in force, and the 2022 successor law has also expired.
Who Was Covered
SB 95 reached employers with more than 25 employees. Eligibility for workers began on the first day of employment, with no minimum service requirement, and full-time, part-time, and variable-schedule employees all qualified so long as they could not work or telework for a qualifying COVID-19 reason.
Two groups got their own treatment. Firefighters subject to certain scheduling rules were entitled to leave equal to the hours they were scheduled to work in the two weeks before taking leave, which could exceed 80 hours. Section 248.3 created a parallel entitlement for providers of in-home supportive services and waiver personal care services.
Qualifying Reasons
An employee could use SPSL for seven situations:
- Being subject to a quarantine or isolation period under guidance from the California Department of Public Health, the CDC, or a local health officer with jurisdiction over the workplace.
- Being advised by a healthcare provider to self-quarantine due to COVID-19.
- Attending a COVID-19 vaccination appointment.
- Experiencing vaccine side effects that prevented work.
- Experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis.
- Caring for a family member who was under a quarantine or isolation order or had been advised to self-quarantine.
- Caring for a child whose school or childcare was closed or unavailable due to COVID-19.
When quarantine or isolation guidance from different authorities conflicted, an employee could use leave for the longest minimum period among those orders.
How Many Hours and at What Pay
The hour allotment depended on the schedule:
- Full-time workers received 80 hours. An employee counted as full-time if the employer classified them that way, or if they worked or were scheduled to work an average of at least 40 hours per week in the two weeks before taking leave.
- Part-time workers with a regular schedule received the total hours they were normally scheduled over a two-week period.
- Variable-schedule workers employed more than six months received 14 times the average daily hours worked over the preceding six months.
- Variable-schedule workers employed fewer than six months received 14 times the average daily hours over their entire period of employment.
- Firefighters scheduled for more than 80 hours in the preceding two weeks received the full scheduled amount.
Non-exempt employees were paid at the highest of four rates: their regular rate for that workweek, total non-overtime wages divided by total hours worked in the prior 90 days, the state minimum wage, or the applicable local minimum wage. Exempt employees were paid in the same manner the employer used for other forms of paid leave. Pay was capped at $511 per day and $5,110 total.
Retroactive Pay and Pay Stub Rules
Because SB 95 reached back to January 1, 2021, a worker who had taken unpaid leave or been underpaid for a qualifying absence during those first three months of 2021 could request retroactive pay. Once the employee asked, the employer had to pay the difference by the payday of the next full pay period.
Employers also had to list the COVID-19 SPSL balance separately from regular paid sick leave on itemized wage statements, so that a worker could tell which bank they were drawing from and which still had hours left.
If an Employer Refused
The California Labor Commissioner enforced SPSL under the same framework that governs the state’s broader paid sick leave law. When an employer unlawfully withheld leave, the penalty was three times the dollar value of the withheld leave or $250, whichever was greater, up to $4,000. If the violation caused additional harm, such as a termination, the employer faced another $50 per day the violation continued, also capped at $4,000. The Labor Commissioner could order reinstatement, back pay, and payment of the withheld sick days, and the Labor Commissioner or the Attorney General could file a civil action to enforce those remedies.
What Came After SB 95
SB 95 expired on September 30, 2021. The legislature then passed SB 114, codified at Labor Code Section 248.6, which took effect February 19, 2022, and applied retroactively to January 1, 2022. The employer-size threshold stayed the same.
The structure changed. Instead of a single 80-hour bank, SB 114 split the leave into two 40-hour banks. The first 40 hours covered the same general qualifying reasons as SB 95. The second 40 hours became available only when the employee or a family member they were caring for tested positive for COVID-19, and employees did not have to exhaust the first bank before tapping the second.
SB 114 was originally set to expire on September 30, 2022. Assembly Bill 152 pushed the expiration to December 31, 2022, without adding new hours. That program has also ended. There is currently no California COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave in effect.
What California Workers Get Now
California’s standard paid sick leave law remains in effect and was expanded on January 1, 2024. Employers must provide at least 40 hours or five days of paid sick leave per year, up from the previous 24 hours or three days. Employees accrue at least one hour for every 30 hours worked, and employers can cap total accrued leave at 80 hours or ten days. Unlike the COVID-era SPSL, regular paid sick leave requires 30 days of employment with the same employer before eligibility and a 90-day waiting period before use.